At the beginning of 2018, I started working in a studio located inside the old “Schwanhof” tobacco factory.

During the Second World War, this factory served as a “labor camp” and used forced laborers from different prisons and concentration camps.

Of the wooden barracks in which the “workers” lived, only one has survived to this day, reminiscent of the dark historical pages on which the future financial well-being of the German nation was written with the lives of prisoners.  

Naturally, working every day from morning until late night in a room in which not only artifacts of that time have been preserved, but also the overall atmosphere of this complex historical phenomenon, could not help but affect me.

Given all this, the only and most appropriate place for the final exhibition was clearly inside this factory.  

Subsequently, thanks to the openness and total complete professionalism of the site administrator, I was provided with free access to the attic space of the former boiler house, which has been responsible for heating the entire factory since its foundation in the 19th century.  

Every element, fragment, and detail of this exhibition carries not only a special meaning, but also a real story of the circumstances under which each artifact came into my field of vision. For almost five years of my life in the city of Marburg, I collected this exhibition piece by piece, bit by bit…

For me personally, this is more than an exhibition; it is rather every step and every breath taken by me in the last years of my life.

For me personally, these footsteps and this breathing reflect not only the tragedy of the era in question, but also every step and every breath of an individual prisoner who was confined here many decades ago and who, perhaps, never again saw the clear blue sky, and was never again able to draw the breath of a free man! 

The project was implemented as an interdisciplinary installation, incorporating video documentation of a public space intervention, painting, sound, and deconstructed 3D objects derived from historical archival materials.

Partners oft he project:

Stephan Niderehe & Sohn GmbH

Marburger Kunstverein

Special thanks to:

Mr. Horstmann

Mr. Bürger

Sarah Steger

Anna Hakobyan